What Are Swipe Grants and Who Can Apply?

Swipe Grants are flexible funding awards from Swipe Out Hunger, a nonprofit that partners with colleges and universities to end student hunger. Applications for the 2026–27 Swipe Grants are currently open, according to the organization's site. The grants are intended for campus communities — students, staff, and administrators — working on food security initiatives. Swipe Out Hunger reports it has awarded more than $1 million in Swipe Grants to date, and its network spans 1,000+ campuses across North America.

What Swipe Grants Are

Swipe Grants are described by Swipe Out Hunger as "flexible grants" tied to campus food security work. They sit alongside the organization's broader programs, which include:

• A 1,000+ campus partner network
• Student-led anti-hunger programs
• National convenings and impact reporting on college hunger

The grants are one mechanism the organization uses to move funding directly to campuses rather than running every program centrally.

Who Can Apply

The site's callouts point to campus administrators and campus communities as the audience for Swipe Grants ("Calling campus administrators leading the movement..."). The 2026–27 application window is open as of the site's current content.

If you are a student, staff member, or administrator at a college or university that wants to start or expand a food security program, this is the relevant funding track. Swipe Out Hunger's separate "Get Involved" path covers campuses that want to join the partner network more broadly.

What the Funding Supports

Based on the organization's stated focus, Swipe Grants fuel campus food security projects — the kind of work that shows up in its impact reporting, such as:

A 2025–26 recap on the site, "How Swipe Grants Fueled Campus Food Security in 2025-26," suggests grants have funded concrete campus-level projects. The site also highlights pantry-level work, such as a piece on how a spice rack changed a campus pantry — an example of the small, practical improvements flexible funding can cover.

How to Apply

1. Go to swipehunger.org and look for the Swipe Grants application callout on the homepage.
2. Confirm your campus fits the target audience (campus administrators and campus food security programs).
3. Submit an application for the 2026–27 cycle while the window is open.

The site does not publish detailed eligibility rules, award amounts, or deadlines in the material available here, so check the application page itself for those specifics before you start.

Why It Matters

Swipe Out Hunger frames student hunger as solvable and cites that one in three college students faces food insecurity. Its model is partnership-based: rather than running food programs itself, it works with campuses and funds their efforts. Swipe Grants are the funding arm of that approach — a way for a campus with a workable idea to get flexible money behind it.

If your campus already has a pantry, a meal-swipe sharing program, or an advocacy effort that needs seed funding, the Swipe Grants application is the direct route. If you're starting from zero, the broader "Get Involved" path is the better first step.